Quote:BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two red double decker buses and a white London taxi that ferried anti-war activists to Baghdad to serve as "human shields" are stranded in Beirut with their owner short of the $5,500 it costs to ship them home.
The buses and taxi, dusty after a six-week overland journey that began at London's Tower Bridge, were plastered with signs saying "No to a war on Iraq" and "No to war, Yes to peace."
"The buses have to be shipped back. It's just not practical to drive them...I am not even really sure how much money I've got, but I'm sure it's not enough," said owner Joe Letts, adding that he would fly to London on Thursday to try to raise cash.
"I thought I would let people know it's a problem," he added, sitting in a makeshift kitchen on his bus in central Beirut.
Letts said he left London with 45 human shields of 10-12 nationalities, and picked up a dozen or so more in Turkey before arriving in Baghdad, where he spent a week sleeping in a power station hoping to prevent a possible U.S.-led attack.
"We were taken to see some of the installations that the Iraqis thought were suitable for protection," he said, adding that he had feared a bombing campaign could start at any time.
"We painted a huge sign on the roof saying human shields, so when any planes bombed the target, they'd see they were killing us -- Englishmen and Finns and Turks."
Some 50 other Swedish anti-war human shield activists who had traveled to Iraq began to leave on Monday, saying they had wanted to protect hospitals and schools but had been forced out to refineries, power plants and water works.
Letts said about 200 human shields, including many who traveled on his bus, remained in Baghdad when he left. But he said that although he stayed on as a shield for a week, he had no intention of staying in Baghdad for the duration of a war.
"I own these buses and they are my livelihood and my family's livelihood. And all along I was there really to take the people down and then come back," he said.
When he left London, he thought he had enough money to pay to ship the buses home, but ended up spending his personal finances to help pay for the trip.
"I had promised my wife I would get the buses home," he said. "If I don't get them home, we're absolutely stuck."
Quote: BAGHDAD - A movement intended to encourage Western anti-war activists to travel to Iraq and discourage a U.S.-led war has apparently fizzled.
Just a few weeks ago, dozens of activists arrived in Baghdad, declaring themselves "human shields" and vowing hundreds of others would join them in putting their lives on the line.
But few are still there.
They came to stand by civilian locations to make sure hospitals and water works didn't become military targets in a bombing campaign.
But some complained Iraqi officials tried to make them take up positions near military sites.
They also squabbled amongst themselves, and many ran out of money. Some left when a massive movement of anti-war protesters failed to materialize in Iraq.
Many insist their efforts weren't wasted, that they influenced public opinion about the possibility of war.
Those silly liberals I'll bet you wanted to join them, didn't you, ABF?
Apparently, in their idiotic zeal to apolgize for Saddam Hussein and Iraq, they forgot to take into account that Saddam doesn't give a damn about the Iraqi people. So instead of being human shields to protect the "innocent" citizens of Iraq, the regime wanted them to camp out at oil fields, power plants and other military infrastructure so that we wouldn't bomb it.
Personally, I wouldn't shed a tear if they had been bombed. But it looks like God has mercy on idiots.
In all my years of being a fan, I can't remember the Chargers ever going out and making a big free agent signing. Bobby "Im a Super Genius" Beathard never wanted to spend money on a talented, proven player. He preferred to trade all 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks for a bajillion 7ths. Then he would draft no names and if they ended being good, he was looked on as the best GM in football. And when none of these picks ever worked, well, they were no names to begin with. Then after Beathard fired Boss Ross, the best coach I ever remember the Chargers having, we went through the sad years that I don't want to even think about.
But things turned around when they made John Butler the new GM, and he brought over Doug Flutie and Marcellus Wiley from Buffalo. And he made a fantastic trade so the Bolts could draft Drew Brees and LaDainian Tomlinson, addressing both of their biggest offensive needs. Vick is good, but I'll take 2 stars over on anyday. Then last year he added Marty Schottenheimer, a coach who I've always respected even. They still had a problem at reciever.
And then today they signed David Boston! BOOM! This is definently one of the best offenses in football now. Now Brees finally has someone to throw at, and opposing teams can't load the line with 9 guys to stop LT. I was already getting excited about Eric Parker, but I don't think he's good enough yet to be the number 1 reciever. Now he doesn't have to be. Admittedly I'm worried about Boston's problems, but the Chargers are so conservative that I can't imagine they would spend the money on him unless they were sure all that was behind him.
They still have some serious problems at defense, especially after releasing Rodney Harrison, but now I'm confident they'll address that problem as well. I can't wait for August!
Quote:DOHA, Qatar, March 5 — A conference of Muslim nations hastily called for what was described as a last attempt by the Islamic world to help avert a war against Iraq degenerated into a shouting match today.
The leaders failed to publicly reconsider a proposal calling on Saddam Hussein to go into exile, although the idea first broached several days ago by the United Arab Emirates was the buzz of the corridors.
At the end of the conference, the Emirates Information Minister, Sheik Abdullah Zayed al-Nahyan, who was informally pushing the exile idea today, said in an interview, "Unless the Iraqis come up with a miracle, we don't think we can avert war."
The underlying tensions erupted in the elegant Ritz Carlton hotel ballroom when the vice chairman of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council, Izzat Ibrahim, told the Kuwaiti minister of state for foreign affairs, Mohammed Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah, to "shut up, you monkey."
The Iraqi followed up with an Arab epithet, "Curse be upon your mustache, you traitor."
The Kuwaiti responded by saying the Iraqi was a hypocrite, as his information minister, Sheik Ahmed Fahd al-Ahmed jumped up to defend his country's honor by waving a miniature Kuwaiti flag.
"WOW", I mean, that's like weirdness itself up in there.
And I quote:
Quote:The lining up of a nucleus parallels the encoding of information in conventional computers as binary ones or zeros. However, unlike a traditional bit, which is either on or off, the nuclei are subject to the very weird laws of quantum physics that allow them to simultaneously be in multiple states. In other words, they can be a one or a zero at the same time.
And this works? I've read about this before. As opposed to a line by line search, where everything is done individually, the computer could in theory use this multiple state thing to search search EVERY possible combination in some large computation at the same time.
ATI Announces Technology Development Agreement with Nintendo
Tuesday March 4, 6:38 am ET
MARKHAM, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 4, 2003--ATI Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATYT - News; TSX:ATY.TO - News), a world leader in the design and manufacture of innovative 3D graphics and digital media silicon solutions, announced today that it has entered into a technology development agreement with Nintendo Co., Ltd. Under the agreement, ATI and Nintendo are developing technologies for use in Nintendo products. No other details regarding the nature of this agreement are being made available at this time.
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"ATI has had an excellent relationship with Nintendo for many years," said David Orton, President and Chief Operating Officer, ATI Technologies Inc. "We are pleased to enter into this major technology development agreement with Nintendo."
About ATI Technologies
ATI Technologies Inc. is a world leader in the design and manufacture of innovative 3D graphics and digital media silicon solutions. An industry pioneer since 1985, ATI is the world's foremost visual processor unit (VPU) provider and is dedicated to deliver leading-edge performance solutions for the full range of PC and Mac desktop and notebook platforms, workstation, set-top and digital television, game console and handheld markets. With 2001 revenues in excess of US $1 billion, ATI has more than 1,900 employees in the Americas, Europe and Asia. ATI common shares trade on NASDAQ (ATYT) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (ATY).
Forward-looking Statements and Uncertainties
Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements." When used in this press release, words such as "plans," "intends," "anticipates," "should," "estimates," "expects," "believes," "indicates," "targeting," "suggests," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and entail various risks and uncertainties that are outlined in this press release and in the Company's 2002 Annual Report and 2001 Annual Information Form. As a result of these risks and uncertainties, the Company's operating results and common share price may be subject to significant volatility, particularly on a quarterly basis. For example, the markets for the Company's products are characterized by changing market conditions, frequent new product introductions, seasonal and variable demand and rapid technology changes. Other factors that could cause the Company's results to vary include, but are not limited to, lack of anticipated growth in the demand for PCs, gaming consoles and consumer electronic devices in which the Company's products are incorporated, reductions in the Company's average selling prices for its products due to competitive pressures and other factors, the introduction of new products by the Company's competitors which render the Company's products non-competitive, delays encountered by the Company in developing new products or enhancements, including integrated graphics and core logic components, in the time frame required by its customers, delays in manufacturing or unfavourable manufacturing yields experienced by the Company's independent foundries, unexpected variances in material costs, including silicon wafer, memory and printed circuit boards, and constraints on the supply of components utilized in the Company's products and in the PC industry generally. These risks and uncertainties could cause or contribute to actual results that are materially different from those anticipated or experienced in the past. Additional information concerning factors that could cause the Company's financial results to fluctuate is contained in the Company's filings with Canadian and U.S. securities regulatory authorities. ATI disclaims any obligation or intention to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
<END PRESS RELEASE>
Ever since ATI bought ArtX (Flipper creators), it has become one of the top names in graphics card technology for the PC. Some even say that its most recent cards outprice and outpace NVidia's. I'm glad Nintendo went with ATI considering the reported strain in the relationship between Microsoft and NVidia.
Daily Stats:
March 05th, 2003 3
March 04th, 2003 223
March 03rd, 2003 93
March 02nd, 2003 43
March 01st, 2003 209
February 28th, 2003 91
February 27th, 2003 168
February 26th, 2003 103
February 25th, 2003 91
February 24th, 2003 124
February 23rd, 2003 110
February 22nd, 2003 97
February 21st, 2003 153
February 20th, 2003 40
February 19th, 2003 48
February 18th, 2003 75
February 17th, 2003 131
February 16th, 2003 50
February 15th, 2003 56
February 14th, 2003 80
February 13th, 2003 94
February 12th, 2003 131
February 11th, 2003 98
February 10th, 2003 63
February 09th, 2003 68
February 08th, 2003 59
February 07th, 2003 67
February 06th, 2003 106
February 05th, 2003 88
February 04th, 2003 147
February 03rd, 2003 184
February 02nd, 2003 136
February 01st, 2003 140
January 31st, 2003 160
January 30th, 2003 173
January 29th, 2003 96
January 28th, 2003 164
January 27th, 2003 143
January 26th, 2003 55
January 25th, 2003 82
January 24th, 2003 125
January 23rd, 2003 78
January 22nd, 2003 70
January 21st, 2003 60
January 20th, 2003 26
January 19th, 2003 42
January 18th, 2003 44
January 17th, 2003 75
January 16th, 2003 173
January 15th, 2003 58
January 14th, 2003 85
January 13th, 2003 129
January 12th, 2003 39
January 11th, 2003 46
January 10th, 2003 64
January 09th, 2003 104
January 08th, 2003 66
January 07th, 2003 175
January 06th, 2003 89
January 05th, 2003 62
January 04th, 2003 76
January 03rd, 2003 141
January 02nd, 2003 150
I'll bet you wanted to join them, didn't you, ABF?
